he young Belgian clown of Les Bonbons '64 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IFByrUcYHk
Is back a few years later to take his candies back from the girl who made fun of his long hair. It is the start of the burgeoning youth movement which Brel, despite his anti- bourgeois,anti- military stance, never did like. With the skill of a great mime artist, he creates a character that angered the left wing youth of that day. While the audience cheers wildly when he says "Peace in Viet Nam," it's clear that Brel is ridiculing long-haired peace marchers. The candyman of this song hits us with another double whammy at the end, when , finished with Mlle. Germaine, he comes on to her younger brother, who is part of a political faction Brel despised, the Flamingants. Brel was repulsed by effeminate manners and does a hysterical job of satirizing them. This performance continues to offend gays, but IMHO nobody is too good for criticism.
Many thanks to philipchek of YouTube and of Paris for explaining the subtilties of this song : the affected language of the infantile bourgeois young man, his stupidity in calling the swank George V hotel" Vay" instead of "Cinq" (the Fifth), his obsession with his hair, and the the persistence of his Belgian accent though he denies it. Merci beaucoup, Phillipe!
This is the first performance of this song, before it was recorded, Nov. 10, 1966.